FBinNY 

Not excusing anybody, but your theory's probably off the mark. Most likely someone used the slot next to yours and gouged the tape with their brake lever or something similar in the process. IMO this isn't a big deal, just normal wear and tear in the real world.

OldsCOOL

You might be right.

Wheever

Thanks, man. That's really all I was looking for, but people does get their panties twisted up, sometimes, don't they?

And in terms of money, these are the people that OWN the teams sports stars play on. These are the Wall Streeters, Private Equity people, Hedge Fund managers, Heads of the major banks, etc. These are the .000001%ers. It really is dizzying, (and a little nauseating, frankly.)

popeye

Yes.

Wilfred Laurier

I can sympathise, OP. I once had a pedestrian on a crowded sidewalk step on my loose shoelace and it completely untied! And the guy just walked away! I mean, how selfish do you have to be???!!??

BTW... it's only $10 worth of bar tape. Buy a $20 pair of rolls of tape and only change one side of the bar. The brolly-bar-tape-slasher will find you and slash the other side soon enough!

Wheever

Perhaps I didn't make clear that is was on the bike rack on the back of our car? 4' up and in the slot closest to the rear window. It could only have been done by someone walking by with stuff.

Look, I know it's normal wear and tear, but it would be different if it was something I did to cause it. I just wanted to come here and whine about it because someone else did it, and the first cut is the deepest and all that, and no one out there understands what bikes mean to us bike heads. Sigh.

FBinNY 

OK, the issue isn't exactly how it happened, stuff does. I agree that it was rude and unthinking not to leave a note, but let's face the fact that the actual damage was below radar, and I can understand where someone might equate this to a minor bumper ding when parking.

Stuff happens, and be happy (or lass sad) that it wasn't a paint scratch or something more permanent. In my circle, we'd now consider your bike to be Baptized, allowing you to enjoy it without worry about the 1st scratch. Once you get past that point every slight is smaller.

IMO- you can't properly enjoy a bike if you have to worry about it. Worry limits your options, keeps you from exploring interesting roads, keeps you off trains, buses and planes that can take you to interesting places, and if you ride in groups can make you a PIA at snack stops.

Fix the tape before it unravels, buy yourself a beer and celebrate your new found freedom from bike worry.

indyfabz

I hate to think what might happen if a motorist inadvertently kicks up a stone and causes a ding.

Agent Cooper

Yeah, some people can be jerks. Don't let it get you down. Heck, maybe it was an accident.

Just think, this gives you the opportunity to put on some new tape. There's nothing like the feel of fresh bar tape on your bike.

Plus this gives you the chance to pick a new tape color, if you want. I always thought red looks nice on a black bike.

Dunbar

I can't believe you left that bike on a bike rack unattended.

Wheever

Already covered. Please see post #12 .

Dunbar

I live in a wealthy zip code. Lots of Bentleys are brand new Porsche 911's around here and I would never dream of leaving a $3500 bike on a bike rack with a cable lock. And not just because of the theft risk. Bar tape would be the least of my worries.

bt

my bikes don't leave my sight, ever.

op is to blame on this one.

FLvector

You need to install a Go Pro pointing out the back window so you can catch one of these "rich people" that you so despise so you can sue their asses to replace your damages. Of course, you'll be able to sue for pain and suffering since this caused you so much stress and probably lost wages. I hope you'll recover from this traumatic event.

gregf83 

*******...

D1andonlyDman

That's pretty limiting. But I will admit to using an older, much less expensive bike for rides where I know the bike will be locked up and out of my eyesight for more than a few minutes (My 36 year-old Trek 510 with old Sun-Tour friction gearing serves this purpose - for shorter rides, or less secure lockups, I might even use my Specialized Hardrock that I could certainly buy something comparable to replace it for $100 or so off CL. If I were to lose a bike that's only worth $200-300 like my Trek, or $100 like my Specialized Hardrock to a thief, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Also, older steel bikes they are much less of a theft magnet than my other newer bikes.

Wheever

Not a bad idea. And while I'm at it can I sue you for being unaccountably hostile, gratuitously insulting and generally being a walking talking rectum? Hmm?

FYI: I hardly despise these "rich people", never said I did, so I have no idea why you got your thong in a twist. Clearly you have some issues to unpack.

TankSlapper

D1andonlyDman

So now that's 3 different posters who replied to your thread whom you have deemed to be either rectums or anuses. When the majority of the people you are associating with seem to you to be major jerks, perhaps the one with the problem is you.

nastystang

thats the kind of note I would get.

TheManShow

People are different today than in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Life is cheap, and people are all about self. I live in a 55+ adults only community, and say many time these people are not like my grandparents. People I looked up to.

A lot of people own golf carts, or cars. According to the "LAW" they must be registered, and have a
State Issued License Plate. In the last year I am seeing more, and more golf carts/car with no license driving on the road ways. BTW it cost about $50.00/year to register a new golf cart/car. Older ones are very cheap to register.

Seniors are cheating the State out of what, and if they are in an accident their goose is cooked.

Wheever

What I expected was "bummer, dude, people suck, be more careful next time." Instead I appear to have gotten an unaccountable number of people being gratuitously *******ish, strangely insulting and otherwise oddly hostile. No, the problem is not with me, the problem is the posters in question. There's no need to be so rude and hostile but, given this is the internet, I suppose it is to be expected--which does not, in fact, make it okay or excusable. I actually thought better of this community.

Dude, If YOU actually think that post #42 was called for, I'm afraid it's you who might need to, shall we say, reassess your rectal body composition?

Wheever

Even that would have been an acknowledgement that they had done something to my bike.

PepeM

Feel bad for you mate. Some people are arses. Chin up and move on.

FBinNY 

I suspect that one reason you're not getting the sympathy you expect may be that (to an experienced cyclist) your OP seems a bit whinish (whiney?, is there a word for "seems like whining").

Yes, it's annoying to come back and find that someone damaged your bike. But it's handlebar tape, not exactly a catastrophe. Where I come from, if this were the worst thing that happened to you today, you had a good day. Compost happens, and you don't have to like it, but don't expect tons of sympathy from others for every minor bit of grief.